Along the TransCanada Trail in 2016

 

TCT in 2016



Butchart Gardens

I returned to British Columbia during the late summer of 2016;  this year my sisters Audrey and Judy accompanied me.  The trip was a combination of sightseeing with them and also some progress on the TransCanada Trail.  From a sightseeing standpoint we saw the Kinsol Trestle, rode the ferry from Vancouver Island to the mainland.  We checked out Butchart Gardens near Victoria and drove the Sea to Sky Highway from Vancouver to Whistler.   The progress we made along the TCT was short but important, as we navigated the trail through the  very center of downtown Vancouver, and through the urban areas of  Burnaby, Port Moody at the end of the Burrard Inlet, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam,  Maple Ridge, and Fort Langley. Unfortunately, I lost most of my photos for the 2016 trip, (probably, on the hard drive of some old laptop, long  ago discarded).

Thinking back on my memories of 2016, I recall beautiful weather with lots of sunshiny days.  I remember the three of us visiting the downtown area amid the skyscrapers, but being frustrated with all of the traffic, and the lack of bathroom facilities!  After finally finding a restroom in an A & W, we decided we had had enough of the bluster of the city life, and decided to search for a hotel more in a suburban area, finally finding a good place at Pitt Meadows.  I recall seeing a bear in a deeply wooded park in one of the suburbs, and made sure to take a wide radius around it. Audrey and Judy did a great job of meeting me at various spots along the trail.  This was not an easy task, as the girls had to look at the guidebook, and try to find the streets and roads that would get to the trail at the right places.  There was another failed ferry ride over the Fraser in the Maple Ridge area.  The guidebook was published in 2008, and  the ferry was no longer in business, since a new bridge had been built over the River.    As I've mentioned before, the TCT is a living and evolving trail, which is altered in places by moving the trail to a better route.


Eventually we finally emerged from the Vancouver metro area into rural cropland.  The climate in this area is some of the mildest in all of Canada, so a good area to grow crops.  It looks like farming is a profitable pursuit by the looks of some of the farmhouses!  Finally, we came to our stopping point basically in the shadow of Mt. Sumas, and the city of Abbotsford. 

Butchart Gardens Scenery



Comments

  1. AudreyJuly 15, 2025 at 2:51 PM

    I so must enjoyed and appreciate the time you took to show us many areas of the trail from your previous journey prior to this years start point.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AudreyJuly 31, 2025 at 6:57 PM

    Judy is seeing this as well and LOVED the Gardens!!

    ReplyDelete

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